Earnestly wins Takarazuka in record time

Earnestly, under the hands of Tetsuzo Sato, went to a sensational victory this afternoon in the Takarazuka Kinen by a 1 1/2-length at Hanshin Race Course. He ran the Hanshin 2,200-meter turf course in a wonderful time of 2 minutes 10.10 seconds, which breaks the course record by 0.80 second.

Second was race favorite Buena Vista, and a nose further back, third was Eishin Flash. Fourth was, another half-length further behind, Rose Kingdom with Rulership fifth.

Earnestly chased after the leader Namura Crescent in second position and went into the front by getting past him on the final bend. From there, his strong stride was seen to the line. Buena Vista, Eishin Flash and Rose Kingdom were in a hurry to threaten Earnestly, but neither of them were in the shadow of him.

In the color of K.Maeda and the saddle of Sho Sasaki, Earnestly has recorded the first grade one glory and now won nine in 20 career starts with 514+ million jp yen in career earnings. North Hills Management in Hokkaido, Japan was the breeder of Earnestly, a 6-year-old bay horse by Grass Wonder out of the Tony Bin mare Lettre d'Amour.